and the wind stirs
by Karin Serendipity
Summary: Just for the moment, Cilan and Iris own this morning: all to themselves and the wind. Wishfulshipping.


"It's an old legend from the Village of Dragons, I guess..." Iris says, looking down at the ground, her face so crimson that Cilan is concerned that she might be feeling ill and need to rest; the nearest Poke Center, if his calculations are correct, is over four miles north from where they had camped out and there are no guarantees that Nurse Joy will have whatever type of medicine Iris is in need of. Quickly, she looks back up at him, still with that flush that might have less to do with a fever and more to do with the curious thing she is holding in her hands. Cilan has yet to take it, which is one of the reasons she is flushing so violently. "Y-You give the charm to a boy that means a lot to you."

Slowly but surely, realization dawns on Cilan. He _means a lot _to her and that entails much more than he originally thought of their friendship, or maybe it is just wishful thinking. The charm she is speaking of, the one still in her hands and not his, is something that she must have made, easily she could've gotten the string from the last town they had visited. Her hands are shaking just visibly causing the dragon scale to quiver in her grip; for a moment she loses her composure and it slips; she can't catch the string. Cilan springs forward clumsily and catches it, smiling widely at her. "Thank you, Iris. This is really a gift to be cherished," he blushes a tad, sliding it around his neck. The scale shimmers in the sunlight of the newly risen sun. Just a distance away, Ash is snoozing softly with Pikachu and Axew, but for the moment Iris and Cilan own the quiet, serene morning.

"Aren't you going to go make breakfast now?" She asks, pouting and pointedly not looking up at him, but instead looking through her eyelashes.

As a response, he shrugs, "What about this legend, what's the actual legend that gave way to this wonderful tradition?" That is where his curiosity lays; he knows that Ash will wake up and complain about the lack of breakfast, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

This catches her off guard and slowly, she tilts her head up to look at him, "The le-legend says that," momentarily she's shocked and has to gather her words so she doesn't stumble over them and sound like a little kid, "the girls of the Village of Dragons will give a handmade necklace to whomsoever they choose to receive good fortune and lo-love. There are different meanings behind what you create the necklace with, but so long as it is handmade then it retains its meaning. Grass is normally the one that most of the younger girls use because it has such a simple meaning; this is the first I've made, actually." It only takes her a moment to settle and begin explaining, "The legend behind the tradition is about these Dragon Masters, both were incredible, but when one of them proposed to the other one, he lacked a ring, so instead he used a dragon fang. These Dragon Masters could command even Zekrom and Reshiram and so when the story was passed along, the day they got married was slowly transformed into a day when a boy gives a girl a necklace and the reciprocal day is today: hundreds of years ago."

"What type of meaning does the dragon scale hold?" Cilan asks, lifting it up carefully and watching the sun reflect off of it, bouncing off of the smooth surface. _Beautiful. _

Once again, Iris blushes, but this time it is barely perceptible: "Newfound love; love that has just been planted and not yet had time to grow. It promises that if given the chance, it won't whither: it won't die." Down at her sides, her nails bite into her palms as she clenches her fists, adamant about not backing down now that she is this invested. While her blush dissipates and finally her skin tone goes back to normal, Cilan's face heats up as her words are processed and held close to him, but still hang in the air around them. The wind stirs her words, wraps them around him so they permeate through his skin and he is forced to feel how his heartbeat accelerates just slightly.

"A-A promise," he stammers.

"From me to you," she replies with a soft, shy smile.

He relaxes immensely, but his heart still beats erratically inside of his chest: pounding against his ribcage as though it can't take it anymore; he can feel the tug of invisible wires and feel the ghosts of her fingertips before they are placed against his forearms, her head tilted up with her blush making a reappearance. Outside of all the thoughts planted in his mind, he decides to land a kiss to the very tip of her nose then rests his forehead against hers, "This is a delectable, interesting twist to our journey, Iris, but I'd like to propose the same type of promise to you."

Something inside of her breaks, but she's not quite sure if it is important enough to care about because suddenly Cilan is _so close _and the sun's warmth has seeped into his clothes, his skin, so beneath her touch, he feels _so warm. _From the north, the wind stirs, mussing their hair. It feels like she's frozen, but on fire at the same time and her heartbeat matches Cilan's beat-for-beat. Slowly, one of her hands finds its way up his arm and around his neck, then the other one follows suit; she is forced onto her tiptoes as she buries her face into the crook of his neck and breathes in deeply. Right here, she feels safe as their hearts beat in harmony and Ash's snores punctuate the silence. "A promise."

"Cilan, you haven't made breakfast yet?" Ash whines, bleary-eyed and rubbing at them as he yawns; Cilan moves away, flashing a brilliant smile at Iris: in it speaks the unspeakable words that sit between them and have for a while.

"From me to you."

**Author's Note: Alright! This is entry one in this contest I'm taking part of! It is between Kerminatorthefrog, Veggiefishh, and Kaede Lee Itsumura! The first prompt was stirring of the wind and I would love feedback if you'd be so lovely! Thanks for reading!**


End file.
